What a wake up call...
We moved to our house almost six years ago. I love this house and its location. We have a trail that runs along the side and back of the house. We are the only house on the street that has a chain-link fence, so people can look into our backyard, and we can look out. It makes the backyard feel bigger, and we sit outside often on the swings. I have a portable TV that I move outside, and we watch TV and watch people walk by. We are in a fishbowl as people look in at us, and we people watch as they walk by.
I like the location because I can run down the driveway, turn left, and I'm on a trail, and off I go. It's much better than running down the street for all the neighbors to see this big fat guy running. I'd rather just go under the radar; the trail out of the house lets me do that. Once I poke out of the trail, I cross a busy street and I'm onto a long path along a major road where I can just blend in.
Today's run was going to be my first real run wearing my new shoes. I had a lot of questions, particularly whether my calf would feel better or stay the same. The short answer was that it would stay the same.
A positive on the run was my speed; I ran much faster than I usually do, at least when I was running. For the most part, to keep my heart rate under 130 bpm, I had to walk a lot. When I did run the past, it was faster than normal. In fact, at the beginning of the run, I was doing a 6:50 pace per km. All in all, I finished with an 8:03 per km average and that included at least half of my time walking I figure.
As I ran, I could not stop thinking that my left leg was not as strong or flexible as my right leg, and I needed to do something about it, specifically weight training. Heck, I need to do something about all my body strength. On yesterday's ride, my trapezoids were sore, and it was only a one-hour and 25-minute ride.
After the run, I pushed myself downstairs and started some weight training. It was the first weight training session in a long time, and I couldn't believe my lack of strength. For example, I used to do curls at 30 lbs, and I'm now able to do 15 lbs, and I could go on and on about how much less weights I could lift than I used to.
The big difference was lunges, I used to be able to do them with an olymic bar and two 25-lb weights on the bar, that's 95 lbs total. And I used to rip them. Today I tried with 20 lbs and had trouble so I just did them with body weight. My body weight is 50 lbs heavier than before, so perhaps it isn't as bad as I think.
The good news is that I know that I was right. I need to strength train as I have lost so much muscle. I guess I keep thinking about 13 years ago when I was in amazing shape and use that as a benchmark. I don't think I'm 13 years older and going to be 59 years old on race day, yet mentally, I expect that age should have no bearing on me getting back into the same great shape.
As I ran today, I kept looking at my gut, which stuck out. I think to myself that it will probably take another six weeks until it's less noticeable. I also think that I'm running with the equivalent of a 40 - 50 lb weight vest, and once I can get that weight off, I'll go faster, and less effort will be required of my left calf.
After my weight training session, I did some ab work, sit-ups, leg raises, and a one-minute plank. Then, I did full-strength training. I definitely feel that my right leg and side are more flexible than my left side, so I spent a little more time in the stretch when on my left side. I even did a yoga downward dog move, and to my surprise, my arms were starting to shake. That really hit me, showing how weak I am.
A milestone is that after today's training sessions, I have officially completed three weeks of training and dieting; there are only another 16 weeks to go. I am actually quite surprised at how quickly my body is adapting, although I'm hurting, sore, and semi-injured all over. I am truly what you would call a "weekend warrior."
On my run, I keep thinking about hitting an all-time high weight of 241 lbs before signing up for the Ironman 70.3 and how I was on the brink of becoming a whole different, fat person who eventually if I did lose weight, would have excess skin that couldn't be removed.
The funny thing is, since I started training for the Florida 70.3, I don't think about death, or at least not near as much. Prior, I was drinking daily and spending $2500 per month on going out to restaurants and not eating the most healthy food, waking up in rough shape and thinking I was not going to live much longer living this lifestyle.
And I found myself not really having anything to live for as everyday was the same, it was groundhog day and I figured it was only a matter of time and I was apathetic towards it. I wasn't suicidal, but I didn't really care if I died and thought of death, if not daily, nearly every day.
Now that I am focusing on this goal, those feelings have all but left me. It's like I have a purpose in life once again.
Diet-wise, I'm on track. This morning, my breakfast on schedule was corn. I've had it a couple of times this week. I didn't eat it. Instead, I went for my run, and I wasn't looking forward to it. It pushed me into missing breakfast and jumping to lunch. I guess it's motivation to do intermittent fasting. Last night, we went to the Keg, and they had the type of food I could order that fit in with the dieting requirement for the day.
Run - 57:24 - 7.09 km - 8:05 per km pace
Weights - 31.24
Total Hours of training this week - 6 hours 28 minutes - 95.96 km
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